TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – The Caribbean seems to be going through a bad spell as there are natural disasters occurring on regularly and the countries are finding it hard to recover. The bodies of the last three crew members on the MV Fair Chance have been found 16 days after the St Vincent-registered cargo vessel capsized off the coast of Trinidad.
A statement issued from the Trinidad & Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG) said that the vessel, which capsized on April 2, on the way to St. Vincent had been re-floated with the police and coast guard personnel boarding it via a hole cut in its deck over the Easter weekend and finding three bodies inside.
Two crew members – Johnel McIntosh of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Derrol Small of Grenada – were rescued, but the captain of the St Vincent-registered vessel, Dexter Chance, as well as Devon Celestine, Eric Calliste, Owen Prescott, and Quincy Baptiste were not found.
Last week, the TTCG said last week it recovered the body one other person in the vessel that capsized five nautical miles north of Monos Island after its cargo on board shifted to one side.
As part of the search exercise, a commercial salvage company was contracted to assist in cutting a hole in the deck of the vessel to access its contents.
The salvage company then re-floated the vessel, an exercise that was completed on Easter Sunday and on Easter Monday, members of the TTCG accompanied by police officers, entered the vessel and found three bodies, which were removed to the Forensic Science Centre.
The TTCG said that one person still remained unaccounted for and the search will continue for the individual, who was not identified.
